


The Godzilla Threshold

by harperhug



Series: Canon Fodder [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, F/F, F/M, Foster Care, M/M, Suicide Attempt, Winter Soldier Trial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 10:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8442247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harperhug/pseuds/harperhug
Summary: (n.) The point where a threat is so terrible, or a situation so dire, that the presence of a superpowered monster like Godzilla himself couldn't make it worse. The point at which any solution, no matter how ridiculous or dangerous, becomes an option worthy of consideration.see also Ultron





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evansscruff (chuckle123)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chuckle123/gifts).



> For being helpful and supportive.

The first night back at Fury’s bunker was actually quite peaceful. Sure, there was a thunderstorm outside and three girls squabbling over placement of a bright pink unicorn poster inside. But even if the walls were thin enough that Steve could hear every word, he was sleeping in a bed that wasn’t in a medical ward. He didn’t have a single complaint. Not until Bucky climbed in the bed next to him, anyway, and even then he’d have a hard time describing the feeling as a complaint.

Heh heh, _hard time_.

God, he was starting to turn into Natasha.

“Did you want top bunk?” Steve asked in a voice at least ten octaves higher than it should’ve been.

Bucky didn’t say anything, just rolled over and wrapped his flesh arm around Steve’s waist. He was clearly waiting for something, but Steve didn’t dare speak. The room filled with the sounds of Steve’s hitched breathing and some supernatural romance movie or another playing in the next room.

“Who the hell quotes Little Miss Muffet before a fight!” Jubilee shrieked. Her next shriek started off strangely muffled, and somebody—probably Laura—wheezed more than she laughed. Steve wondered if both girls had broken ribs, and not just Laura.

“Quit it! I’m trying to do my homework!” Sharon yelled, over a violin and piano duet that sounded far too classy to be whatever movie Laura and Jubilee were watching. Sharon’s protests made Laura laugh harder until it, too, was muffled. Were the girls strangling each other?

“They’re having a pillow fight,” Bucky accompanied his words with several pats to Steve’s chest where his heart was threatening to pull an _Alien_. “They’re fine.”

“I know,” Steve sounded unconvincing even to his own ears, but still he calmed. He decided to consider this a victory, and then he was going to move all of the furniture in Natasha’s room an inch to the right for showing him that fucking movie in the middle of the night.

Bucky didn’t respond, his breaths deep and even. Steve allowed himself a minute of surprise before he heard soft footsteps approaching. The door squeaked open and he felt Bucky’s heart beat faster despite a complete lack of any outward sign that he was awake. Steve’s heart responded in kind, until he saw Sam standing at the door.

“You gonna lecture me?” Steve didn’t quite ask.

“I don’t want your guard cat to kill me,” Sam replied easily.

“The term is ‘guard dog,’” Bucky said clearly even though half his mouth was squashed against Steve’s chest.

“Steve’s the dog,” Sam retorted. “You look at that man and say you don’t see a golden retriever puppy.”

Steve’s face warmed.

Bucky had the gall to sit up and look. “Mmm…I see a pit bull-Rottweiler mix.”

Oh god, they were actually getting along. Steve shoved half-heartedly at Bucky’s shoulder. “Off,” he said in a manly voice that was definitely not a whine.

Bucky laughed and swung down off the bed. Steve didn’t hear him land, but a second later he was walking out the door, just as soundless, with his back in a rigid line like he hadn’t been joking with Steve a second ago. Steve didn’t bother to try and puzzle that out; Sam cleared his throat. To his surprise, Steve found himself in a much better mood to listen.

“I think I know a guy,” Sam began.

Actually, scratch that. Steve groaned immediately. “Sam, you know I don’t like to do that kind of stuff.”

“Well, I don’t like to see you put a gun to your head and pull the trigger!”

Steve felt the shout like a physical blow, and there was guilt in Sam’s face as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I don’t mean to make this difficult,” Steve said softly, sitting up.

Sam snorted. “I’ll believe that when I see it. The only reason you’re even in this bunker right now is because there aren’t enough of us to take on SHIELD without you. Even with you,” he looked at Steve with a clear question in his eyes.

“I’m not here because I think this is a suicide mission,” Steve tried to sound reassuring.

It didn’t work. The lines around Sam’s eyes deepened even further and he said, “No, you don’t. You just wouldn’t mind finding an opportunity to sacrifice yourself.” He reluctantly peeled himself out of the doorway and walked out, shaking his head almost manically. The room was so quiet that he could hear Maria’s soft murmurs of sympathy from all the way down the hall.

Wait.

He should be able to hear a terrible supernatural soap opera playing from StarkPad speakers. He should be able to hear two girls laughing. He should be able to hear a waltz and pencils on paper. He should be able to hear _something_ —people always made noises unless they were dead, and that was the thought in Steve’s head when he pressed his ear to the wall.

An unfamiliar man was speaking to them in low, threatening tones, and Steve jumped off the bed less carefully than he should have. He hit the floor with an excruciating thump, but at least his yelp was covered up by the sound of the bunk ladder he’d knocked down hitting the floor.

As if it were a cue, Sharon and Jubilee’s room exploded into noise. Metal struck another metal object with great force before three ear-piercing shrieks joined it. The screams cut off abruptly as man growled, and the next crash was metal against wood. Steve saw Sam and Maria racing toward him as he stumbled into the girls’ room.

It took him a second to understand the scene before him. The first thing he saw was a somewhat human-shaped robot with two glowing red spots that could’ve been eyes. The second was Sharon, with her eyes on the robot and reaching for something under her bed. Standing protectively in front of Sharon and Jubilee, Laura was snarling at the robot, one hand curled in Jubilee’s nightgown to keep her in place, the other held up to keep Maria, Sam, and Steve out of the room. Jubilee’s eyes darted between the robot and the tablet she had hidden between her and Laura, inquisitive and focused in turn.

Sharon pulled a knife out from wherever Natasha had probably helped her hide it, and aimed it directly at the robot’s head. The blade bounced harmlessly off the metal. Or perhaps not harmlessly—the robot turned to her and the eye-like spots grew brighter.

“The accident,” a voice ground out. Jubilee blanched, attention fully fixed on Sharon’s nauseous face. “The one-night stand who went too far.”

“Stop!” Jubilee shrieked, putting the tablet on the carpet and putting her fists up. Maria immediately gathered the tablet and started frantically tapping.

The robot shifted its attention to the brunette agent until Jubilee walked forward and punched an area that an imaginative person would’ve called a crotch, and then the robot’s focus fell on Jubilee instead. Appendages that could’ve been called fingers sharpened to a point as they reached for her, and that same deep voice droned out, “I suppose, if no one else will take out the trash-”

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!” Laura jumped on top of the robot, which flung her across the room. Sam caught her before she could touch the floor, but she was still shaking and letting out little hitched breaths as she clutched her ribs and looked at Steve with a plea in her eyes.

The robot’s blinking red eyes swung sharply toward Steve when he stepped forward. “Tony, don’t do this,” he wondered where those eye cameras were transmitting to. “If you want a fight, I’m standing right here. But not in front of the girls.”

The red eyes flickered off as the robot took a step toward Steve, a warning for him to jump back before it swayed and fell forward with an unusually heavy thunk. Behind him, Maria breathed a sigh of relief.

“You were right,” she told Jubilee, “it was Stark technology. How’s your hand?”

Jubilee winced when she bent her fingers. “My right middle finger feels weird. There’s, like, a line of lightning all down the top two, like, sections.”

“I’ll take you to see Helen,” Maria offered her hand. “You two stay here and get some sleep,” she told Sharon and Laura in a severe tone. Sharon nodded dutifully, but Steve could almost see her plans to sneak out coming together in her head. Laura, on the other hand, stared mutinously at Maria’s back until she was no longer visible.

“Help me drag this out,” Sam suggested, gesturing to the robot. It ended up taking all four of them; whatever this robot was made of, it was a lot heavier than it looked.

“Maria said it was Stark tech,” Sharon said first. “Is he coming after us for what we did to SHIELD?”

“You didn’t do anything,” Steve said heavily. “I’m sorry you girls got wrapped up in my mess.”

“I stole the keys to a water truck and paid a man to drive into the Triskelion so Laura would have a getaway vehicle,” Sharon admitted.

Laura’s jaw dropped open. “That was _you_?” she exclaimed. “I thought that was Jubilee’s idea!”

Sharon scoffed. “Like Jubes would ever be that subtle. You know how many dumb boys I have to punch because she never knows how to let things go?”

Laura nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, those glitter bombs were totally her.”

“Hey, I helped her build those,” Sam protested.

“Really? ‘Cause I don’t see any glitter on you.”

Sharon tapped Laura’s shoulder before throwing the robot down and stomping toward Helen’s room. “There’s two of you now,” her shout was convincingly angry.

Laura dropped the robot and followed her as Sam and Steve shared a Look. Two indeed.


End file.
